The deal with the devil - Fear the devils series book 1

Chapter 19

They have been walking for hours on and on without a stop. The man leading the children never intended to stop. No matter whether the children were exhausted or the sun was even about to set.

She knew the children and the animals were starving – hell, she was too. But on top of that Celine was tired and scared so she couldn't imagine how the others felt – even if the children didn't want to show it openly.

Celine was about to cry, she wanted to help them, give them comfort but she knew she couldn't. She wasn't even certain what awaited her but no matter what it was, it wasn't something good. Occasionally, Celine walked next to some children and tried to interact with them, no matter the language barrier – but a child did not look up to her or seem interested in her in the slightest. If not even her unique looks could make them acknowledge her, then nothing could. It was as if they were dull and dead from the inside.

Eventually around evening she could see light from afar, which she recognized to be fire.

Looking closer she identified it as a little village. Now the man who was leading the group shouted back to them for the first time, which made every child look at him abruptly.

What is going on? Celine asked herself.

When they reached the small village, many men surrounded them, seeming like they already expected them.

Everything in her screamed to run. But where could she go? She was sleep deprived and could barely walk anymore. The man who had walked with them was talking to whom seemed like the leader of the village.

During their talk, she noticed some of his men creeping up to their group with knives in their hands. The leader of Celine's group was too busy to acknowledge what was about to happen.

It all went in slow motion. Unbeknownst to her, everyone turned their head to Celine. First, she didn't understand why – until her throat began to throb because of her screaming. This was the perfect opportunity for the men who were creeping up on them. Not even seconds later the leader of the village put out a knife and slit his throat open when he was distracted.

With that the other men who were hiding attacked their group. Now the children started to scream as well. Celine couldn't move anymore. She watched everything. How the first children were stabbed and screamed in agony, and the animals, too. Everything was a massacre. Celine couldn't believe what she was witnessing.

Suddenly her eyes went to a little girl who was also frozen in fear. Her eyes darted to the men who were covered in blood - not their own - and walked in measured steps towards the little girl, intending to murder her as well. Celine reacted on instinct and ran toward the child. The man was readying his strike. A second before he could stab the child, Celine went in between and was stabbed instead in the stomach. She turned to look at the man whose knife was still buried in her.

He had a predator smile on his face. But then something switched inside of him. It may have been from curiosity and never having seen blonde people with blue eyes. Celine took advantage of it and pulled the knife out at a fast speed. It hurt immensely but it wasn't the first time of being stabbed. She rammed the knife into the man's chest with as much force as she could.

The man's expression flipped to shook and then realization. Right before he fell, Celine stepped closer to him."See you in hell, rotten bastard." With these words, he fell.

Turning around, another man was standing in front of her, the girl she wanted to protect was lying dead on the floor. Looking back up at the man he heaved up his knife and slit her throat.

Darkness.

The next day

Coughing, she came back to life. Opening her eyes the events of that night set in, making her sitting up abruptly. Looking around she wasn't in the grass anymore. She was in a dark room with barely any light. The smell of rotten meat filled her nose. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could make out that the room was filled with dead children but no animals.

Why did they bring them to this sort of basement? Her question was answered the moment when she heard a door opening. One man was coming in, not acknowledging Celine sitting in the middle of the room. He heaved two corpses up and went back outside.

Confused she stood up and followed this man but with enough space to hopefully not get caught.

The moment she stepped outside of the basement, fresh air greeted her, making her take a long breath.

She could see it was dark outside. Only fire from outside could enlighten a bit of the chamber. Looking to the left she saw the man going to the left, disappearing from her view. She immediately went after him in big strides. As soon as she turned to the direction in which the man was heading, she stepped outside, a wave so hot it could burn skin blew right in her face making her eyes shut close.

When her body eventually was used to the heat she dared to open them again. The first thing to see was a huge fire that enlightened the darkness. These men who murdered the children and animals in cold blood were surrounded by the fire, dancing and eating the animals they slaughtered.

Celine didn't move, she tried to figure out what was going on. It didn't take a minute until she identified these men as the tribe "Ge". They were known for eating animals which were offered by the Shang clan to sacrifice for the gods. Instead, they murdered the children who brought the sacrifices and ate these.

The Chinese were extremely brutal in history.

The historian part of her was excited to see them in action. She wished she had a camera to document all her experiences but it simply wasn't possible. So all that's left is her memory of what she has experienced. But memories fade from time to time. Even memories at the start of her travel - specifically of her life with Matu were almost forgotten, with only fragments of feelings left. But it was also a product of repression. Nobody would want to be reminded of a time like that.

Lost in her thoughts she didn't acknowledge that it got eerily quiet. All men were staring at her as if they had seen a ghost. The moment some men were heading in her direction, she was snapped out of her thoughts. By instinct, she began to run in the opposite direction – towards the forest which was nearby.

She didn't even know why she was heading there, although these shadows were luring in the darkness, waiting to consume their prey. But something inside of her screamed that the forest was way safer than being exposed to the tribe.

Right before she had reached it, she was tackled down by a man, weighing at least three times as much as she did. All of her breath was sucked out of her the second she fell on top of her. He spun her around and sat on her hips to not let her escape.

Now two more men caught up, staring directly down at her. All three of them had a vicious smile on their face. The fear of getting raped set in, making her shiver in fear. Luckily nothing like that happened.

The one who had caged her heaved her up and carried her back to the house. From experience trying to wiggle herself free would be in vain so she didn't even try. After they entered a big room, the guy dropped her unexpectantly, she couldn't react and her head connected with the floor. She groaned in agonizing pain.

Standing up, she was in front of a man sitting on a throne-like chair.

Great not this again, she thought sarcastically.

This man was the same one who started the mass murder last night. He was now checking her out, taking her every feature in. Although she felt uncomfortable, the fear of what was about to happen was greater.

The leader was talking to the other men who brought her here in the first place. At some point to something one of the other men said, the leader's eyes grew wide open. After a while, the leader turned his attention back to Celine and tried to talk to her.

Not answering, the leader was angered. He repeated what he said more urgently, but Celine kept her mouth shut. She didn't even want to let them know that she couldn't understand anything.

From one to another moment, the guy who brought her in held a knife in front of her throat.

When she still hadn't answered the man sliced her throat. This time everything went slow. With disinterest, Celine touched the spot and stared at her bloodied hand. Then she looked up at the leader and smiled mischievously, making him change his facial expression to confusion. He should be the one feared, not her. Before she fell dead again, she threw as much of her blood as possible at his expensive-looking throne. Then blackness overcame her – the process of dying.